Inside the New York Yankees clubhouse with MLB.com beat writer Bryan Hoch.

Rumor: Yanks pursuing Justin Duchscherer

The Yankees are stepping up their pursuit of free agent right-hander Justin Duchscherer, according to a report on ESPN.com, which cited a baseball source.

With the pitching market thin and improving the rotation a priority, the Yankees have been looking to options that might offer rewards with little risk. Duchscherer has a career record of 33-25 and a 3.13 ERA in eight seasons, but the two-time American League All-Star has pitched only 28 innings over the last two seasons due to injuries.

The report said it was unclear if the Yankees were looking at Duchscherer, 33, as a starter or a reliever, but general manager Brian Cashman has said he would prefer to add a starter.

The Yankees have also recently been linked to Jeremy Bonderman and Jeff Francis on the pitching front, but Jack Curry of the YES Network tweeted Monday that a signing of Bonderman shouldn’t be expected.

Jays/Yanks in March sounds great, wish I could join you!
But I don’t see how you make the statement that most Yankee fans are skeptical. It surely isn’t supported on any of the blogs I visit. I see more of an equal split and that’s being generous. But I won’t complain about who remains here anymore, it’s counter productive. I’d love to get back to a direct discussion, but I understand if you’re hesitant! Perhaps you could post some links like I do!!!

Robert: I’m still here in Clearwater until April. Have done a lot of reading about baseball and about the Yankees in the off season on several other sites. I haven’t missed much about rumors, about the Yankee fans feelings about the lack of meaningful activity in the off season, about Lee and his signing with Philadelphia, about Pettitte who has strung out the team again as to his decision about retiring, about the starting pitchers and relievers and players available as free agents etc. etc. Generally, whether justified or not, Cashman’s philosophy of “patience” has most Yankee fans pretty skeptical about the coming season. Anyway, let’s hope all the pieces come together, the players and pitchers stay healthy, and perform up to last year or better than last year in the case of AJ and Jeter and Texiera. At this point the bench strength seems to be lacking. Berkman, Thames, the player from Cleveland whose name escapes me at the moment I am emailing, are gone but who have replaced them as back up in the outfield if one of the starters is seriously injured or doesn’t perform up to expectation? By the way, I do have tickets to the Jays/Yankees spring training game in March. Go yankees!

Not much to get excited about with the Yankees signing and interest in broken down pitchers with high risk. How many of these guys can the Yankees sign and hope to have a strong team to put on the field come April? It sounds like Cashman is only interested in high risk, low cost pitchers and players at this point. Has he run out of money? Exceeded their payroll projecting for 2011? It seems like things have really changed since the Boss checked out. He would not have settled for some of the decisions that have been made in the off season and would have been more involved personally I think than sons Hank and Hal have been.

With all of the arms being signed for “try-outs” in Spring Training, it seems there is a once in a lifetime opportunity for anyone with catching ability. I’d love a few weeks in Florida as a vacation, work out, and fantasy camp. Where can I apply Bryan?

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.